4.30.2014

I have been slightly busy one thing you can see is I shot this mess last night before I cleaned it up. I had received this new MFT Graduation accents die set in the mail and wanted to see how it would look. if you are curious about why the mess is on display this morning you can read all the details on Julia's blog here and play along.

one thing I did do last weekend was my friend Alice gave me a couple of large mouth vintage canning jars so, I re-organized all my store bought flowers and then I had some little jars empty so, I ended up sorting through all the jello molds of "stuff" that was in this old tool tray and moved a lot of it to little jars and just cleaned a little.

now this is a closer look at something new coming to my blog starting tomorrow. I have been sitting on a secret for a little while and it goes live at midnight.

you can click on these photos to enlarge them.

now this is just a simple one, not sure If I will do another or not yet. hubs did not seem all that impressed with this one. the class of and the cap are all from the my favorite things graduation accents die set and the numbers are stamped from the Tim Holtz mini numeric cling set with some memento nautical blue which looks a lot like the pti enchanted evening cs to my eye.

I drew the white on the cap with an gelly roll pen and used an stardust one to trace around all the lettering and such on this. the cap was cut twice once in enchanted evening and once in white to paper piece the tassel. the top is up on pop dots. this card is A-6 in real life, the base is textured bazzill.

4.28.2014

Some things I just forgot to post. some of them were made for challenges at SplitcoastStampers and were posted there and because, I did not do mulitple photos of them I never got around to make a blog post for them so, its just an have been cleaning out my photos to upload folder kind of a day. ( giving my arm a break from painting at the rental house today haha)

Just because, I have not inked or colored this flower before. ( Penny Black ) no clue what kind of a flower these are "supposed" to be but, thought I have not made anything yellow in a while and so it is. this blue panel is colored cork from Die Cuts with an View they are selling it in a pad that is like the size to mat photos with or something. ( fun stuff ) I have not tried cutting any of it yet to see if it shreds or unravels or anything like that this one was just trimmed a little on the edges of it.

The 4U letters are tim holtz stickers. the lace is vintage.

now this was the first half of the one I made a few weeks ago when I inked the top panel where the words are on the folder first ( which is normally how you get an beleek type look but, on this particular folder its reversed the which side is the press and which is the valley. this sentiment's from Stampin up and the star is a tiny wood veneer from studio callico pained in an shimmery metallic gold paint. I did trace along inside the dill weed with an gold pen and the centers of those are dotted with another pen too.

This was done for an inspiration challenge a few weeks ago. I came across this adin the inspiration site and thought well that is kinda cool ( and I have stuff to make something like it) ;) the first one of these I started to do I had used round glue dots to stick the flower soft with to give it more of a bloom-ish shape but, the sentiment ( I bought second hand and its mounted crooked) so, since I had also stamped the first version last it went over some of the blooms and was unreadable so on this version the sentiment is slightly more straight and underneath the branch. ( there is liquid pearls and flower soft where you would expect to see the lettering) Thanks for this challenge Steph!

This birchtree die and the deer are both from Taylored Expressions, I did add chalk to both of them and drew the eyes on the deer. These all have pop dots under them. the sentiment's from SU. this one is A-6 in real life. The bird is an wood veneer that I had painted a few weeks ago.

last week the try a new technique challenge was to make your own ribbon flower and the CAS challenge was to use an 3 colors from an color inspiration photo and so this is an combo of both of them. It's 5" square in real life. the button is sewn for real to that vintage ribbon. The sentiments from My Favorite things twisted threesome set.

This happy birthday sentiment is what is stamped on the inside. the layers of diecuts all have pop dots between them. the roses are from wild orchid crafts. and the sentiment on the cover is from paper and such. This one is 5 1/2" square in real life, and I spent hours looking through all my old SU catalogs trying to find that butterfly. ( it looks a lot like the ones in that old Easter set with the three bunnies but, its much larger the date on the sticker says 1999 and the rubber is red.

This is an PSX tulip on dictionary page with an Gina K sentiment. The base of the tag was run through the embossing folder and has some metalic rub-on on it.

4.25.2014

these are a little out of order but, if you click on the photos they will enlarge. I had seen someone

( I already forgot who sorry ) pin something about making faux engraved metal and its just clear heat embossing on shiny mirror paper. and when you view it from straight on it really gives it an engraved look. In this case the background stamp is an old one from SU called Filigree. I did try this also with some cheap DCWV foil paper and it did not have the same effect nor did the colored shimmer cardstocks. the really shiny mirror paper is the only kind that worked best for me.

I think it show's up better on this shot, this is the second version of this card that sentiment is from Hampton Arts. ( I've had it a long time) the dies are labels 8 & decorative labels 8. there are pop dots between them with some recollections rhinestones and unknown sheer ribbon. the crinkled textured silver is from provo craft (a very long time ago). both of these cards are 6" square and boxed in real life.

This was the first version and I was not really crazy about the bow so, since I had everything out decided to do a second one and let him pick. ( Hub's hunting buddy asked me for a wedding card the other day at work and he needs it for tomorrow) this version I did a partial embedded die with the diecuts and then popped up that whole layer on pop dots. ( there are small snippets of score tape holding them together on the back) but, I left the edges open on the deco one for the lace look.

4.20.2014

Stipple butterfly colored with Copic's the love dictionary background stamp was spritz'ed with some heidi swapp seafoam color shine. the wings are covered completely with an clear wink of stella brush from ZIG and its very blingy in real life.

This is 5X7 in real life, the texture pp is from before people owned embossing folders and has no mfg info on it. the edge of the text panel was punched with an handheld SU punch, and the sentiment is an 1$ bin studio G stamp.

my son's best friend is getting married next saturday.

and the Penny Black sentiment on the side is what is stamped on the inside. which gave me second and third thoughts as the bride is PG and I think. okay is this a bad thing to say in that situation. ( both J and his dad think no...) whatcha think?

4.18.2014

I have been coloring butteflies off and on the last week or so, this one is that SU stipple butterfly again with copic's and the wings are covered with the wink of stella clear brush. ( the brush is working way better for me to cover a large area than the pens do)

This is A-2 in real life, the sentiment's also from SU.

this one the ribbon was colored with an copic marker to turn the white parts of the gingham to faded blue.

Stampington & Co. postage butterfly ( colored with copic's and wink of stella) the sentiment I must have thought I was going to remember who makes it but, the wood block is neekid. this one is 5 1/2" square in real life.

seen the mixed media challenge today was do do spritz or sprays, and I had made this stenciled background with some heidi swapp color sprays ( teal and seafoam) that are very shimmery in real life, so with the gold krylon leafing pen and the wink of stella this one glimmers a great deal in real life, but was harder to capture that after dark.

The sentiments from IO on this one with the ever popular wild orchid crafts blooms and prima leaves. this ones 6" square in real life.

Just messing around these are the ones I mailed out this year. the Eggs are heat embossed with SU white on PTI Kraft and up on pop dots. the Sentiment is from Stampa Rosa. these are all A-2 in real life.

The butterfly is heat embossed twice on this one and only glued in the center of its body. with some liquid pearls and the lave is vintage.

The textured white pp on this one is from Die Cuts with a View woven pad. the lace is vintage and the bloom is from wild orchid crafts.

the trim on this egg came from Micheals a few years ago. it was in the cut by the yard section.

4.14.2014

This was stamped twice this top layer was done on Neenah with Memento and colored with copics and pitt pens with the Pointillism ( ish ) style my first two shades of pale blue were too close together though colorwise and they blended too well so, the darkest blue I went as far out as I had in that shade. this was also swashed completely with an wink of stella clear glitter brush and the edges of the cut piece were traced with an grey marker to (hide the white edges haha) the one stamped to the cardfront was just colored really quick with some of the waterbased markers upstairs that were "close enough" this is actually a little more green and a lot more sparkly in real life.

another angle, the dots in the swirl image and along the one wing were just grey marker dots that were lined with an gelly roll star dust pen. ( because, Diane's swirl had dots in it ) haha plus it fit in with that whole color it with dots theme.

a two-fer card for both of the monday challenges ( Pointillism ) & CAS Featured Stamper ( this is Diane's card I CASED ) changes were to the colors and the swirl and sentiment. its's A-2 in real life.

One of the things I noticed about Diane's gallery is she uses this stipple butterfly really well and it made me remember I have it and the dots in the design made it really easy to figure out where to add the coloring dots.

4.12.2014

a closer look at the bird cluster, the bird ( nature walk) is colored with prisma pencils ( slightly ) & some pen's on the eye. it is up on pop dots. those weedy flowers are also SU but, I cannot remember the set name anymore and the stickers do not have dates on them. This was masked into the diecut. the lace is vintage, I have to try to find that sentiment stamp to remember its mfg info.

I had done this one for this week's featured stamper Sandy (you can see her card here) I don't have the same exact stamps so that is one change and I also switched out the stamped dictionary page for vintage dictionary page. This one is 6" square in real life.

On monday the CAS challenge was to do embossing. so, this is an Belleek inspired piece with some river rock ink on the embossing folder and the bird is one that was painted with last weekends stain find. It's A-2 in real life. the sentiments from the SU set yippee skippee.

also on monday was an Embedded diecuts challenge and I had recently received this Penny Black natures song die in the mail and wanted to play with it. the bush was cut from a scrap that had been splatter sprayed with a stencil a while back and then I cut off the bird at the tail and legs to cut an additional piece in a scrap of riding hood red. the sentiment's from tiny tags. ( which was my first SU unmounted set so, I hardly ever remember to use it) and its matching tag die. that panel is up on pop dots.

The free for all challenge was to make an A-2 sized base and cut an 2" slice off the front ( either side) and so. this Branch out set is how I started this card on a scrap of kraft and then built the base around it. the cool part is that printed paper is an 6" square piece and it was large enough to cover both the whole front of the inside but, that little strip on the cover too from the same sheet. so that is neat on the no waste thing.. the sentiment's from A Muse and the inside has an Happy Birthday inside it.

4.09.2014

It's that day again, a peek into the mess as it is. You can find all the details about how to play along here on Julia's blog where it all starts.

On last Saturday we went to garage sales (YAY! it's that time of year again) The first one was the only one

I had made a purchase at, I picked up two boxes of Pastels, an book of Quotations and these odd bottles of paints and creams and gold leafing. ( they were .25 cents & .10 cents a bottle/jar) so, no big loss if they were not good. the blue was a surprise, its some kind of a stinky stain. I think it may have been a homemade mix of what ever it is, its in a jar labeled as being "mother of pearl" haha.

The gold turned out to be a liquid that the bottle reads as being for furniture. ( and its original price tag was an whole .45 cents if that tells you how old it is)

a top view, just messing around tried it on some watercolor paper and some studio calico wood veneers.

the smell goes away after a while ( what a relief )

I did pick up a second bottle of the gold but, it said it was a different color and on the inside it has turned into a solid like cream consistency like a "rub on" and then the little white pots probably were "rub on's" at some point and have become more hard but, the whole thing comes out of the jar and then you can rub it on things.

4.05.2014

The Mix Challenge yesterday was for 3 or more mediums with Tulips... since Tulips are my favorite flower the hardest part of this challenge was choosing which Tulips to use. {Penny Black Tulip Cluster} Was stamped with SU Watercolor crayons.

This is 5X7 in real life, the watercolor paper had some pink acrylic paint dry brushed on to it, and then the Tim Holtz honeycomb stencil was overlaid on that with some White Gesso, the green acrylic paint was dry brused along the edges after. the Quote is from an tattered book of 20K+ Quotes I picked up at a yard sale this morning and the Blessed is from SU ( purple rubber 2007 is what the block tells me, I may go look for it later but...) the faux nib is from Tim Holtz and the ribbon I am thinking is MM but maybe May Arts. the base is Bazzill and the liner is Neenah.

4.03.2014

On Sunday it was "leaked" in the favorites thread on SCS that Kathleen would be this weeks Teapot Destination and ( she has moved into the hospital to wait for an lung transplant )

have you ever thought about being an organ donor?

I am, it even says's so on my driver's licence. and I started coloring her because, to me she is just an beautiful image the same way that Kathleen is able to spread beauty and kindness in the gallery and threads at SCS in hopes it would fit the theme. ( all the tea pots have a theme) this one was encouragement with flowers.

so, the tag on the flower frog is actually on the inside of this card in real life, its an Quote from the Paper and Such line and its a clear stamp so that would have been interesting to try and photograph ha ha. the sentiment on the front tag is from Penny Black and the Peony Mermaid is from the Sweet Pea stamps from ching chou kuik The lace is vintage, the sparkling bauble is from kaiser Craft, the string is from May Arts this one is A-6 in real life

I had seen the CAS challenge was to choose 3 colors from this combo and add in a bird theme and it stuck in my head although I had something being colored for another project ( will post that next) and ended up finishing this one first because, I knew what I had wanted to do ( counter sink the image in the card front) so this is lined on the inside both on the top and bottom. The image is from Impression Obsession stamped with Memento on Neenah solar white. this one is A-6 in real life, the brown is bazzill and the blue is from coredinations,

4.02.2014

If you haven't played a long yet you can read all the details about What's on your Work Desk Wendesday on Julia's Blog here. these photos will enlarge if you click on them just hit your back button afterwards.

So, I thought I would show a different space ( this is actually an east/south corner of the living room in the house. ) most of these shots I do are coming from an bonus room over the garage. When I used to color primarily with prisma pencils I used to curl on the sofa and use a lapboard with an ott light over the top of that. and then when I started messing around with Copic markers I found it easier to sit and spread out so I have taken over this sofa table in the living room for a coloring space now.

a closer look at what is under construction.

what it looks like from the other side of the table. These were taken right before I ran out the door for work this morning I usually am having time to color late in the afternoon/ early evening so the light is coming more from the south window's and not the east side. but, its still a good spot for light.